The 2025 Audi A3 is considerably smaller than a fully loaded Honda Civic that costs around $14,000 less. How can that possibly make sense? Perhaps it doesn’t, at least from a size-to-dollars perspective, but there’s a lot about this junior Audi that adds value beyond quantifiable facts like rear-seat legroom. That’s usually the case with luxury cars, though. The real question is whether the A3 is enough of a luxury car to warrant its price premium.
Photo: James Riswick
For 2025, the Audi A3 gets its first major update since the current generation debuted in 2022. Audi tweaked the styling, made the previous interior display upgrades standard, added new features (such as wireless device charging), and made Quattro all-wheel drive (AWD) standard. Audi also gave the engine a torque bump of 15 pound-feet, resulting in what Audi claims is quicker acceleration.
As before, though, the 2025 Audi A3 lineup remains consistent. There are Premium and Premium Plus trim levels (the latter is technically a package), but you’ll find the more significant differences in the performance-oriented Audi S3 and high-performance RS 3 sedans. They share a body, basic design, and interior, but differ in engine, chassis, AWD system, and equipment. The 2025 Audi A3 lineup prices range from $39,495 for the base model to $64,695 for the RS 3, including the destination charge.
For this 2025 A3 review, Audi provided a test vehicle equipped with the following options:
The test vehicle’s manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) was $46,040, including the $1,295 destination charge to ship the sedan to your local dealership from the Ingolstadt, Germany, assembly plant.
Photo: James Riswick
The Audi A3 may be a very small sedan, but there’s plenty of room up front for a tall, 6-foot-3 driver like me, thanks to the generous adjustment range of the power seat and tilt/telescopic steering wheel. The latter is perfectly countered, beautifully finished, and features high-quality buttons and barrel wheel controls that click with every interaction.
That’s the case with all the A3’s switchgear, which is refreshing when so many cars (including newer Audis like the Q6) are adopting touch-sensitive control surfaces that feel cheap and/or are hard to utilize by touch alone. Even the touchscreen clicks when pressing a virtual button to provide a little extra bit of perceived quality. If you want to know how and why the A3 might justify its price premium, this interior perceived quality is big.
The quality of other materials is hit or miss. Audi lines the front doors and dashboard in rich-looking materials, seemingly on par with the much pricier Q6 E-tron I tested after the A3. Leather upholstery is standard. At night, blue light appears behind bits of trim and through the doors (standard on Premium Plus). This is a higher-quality cabin than a Civic and other compacts, but that doesn’t make it a junior A8 inside.
The “wood” dashboard trim feels like plastic and looks tacked on. The piano black trim on the center console looks cheap and attracts fingerprints. My leg banged against hard plastic on the center console, and those rich-looking materials on the front doors give way to rock-hard plastic on the rear doors. That trick is lame in a Honda Civic; it’s inexcusable in a luxury vehicle.
Of course, the most significant detriment of the back seat is the lack of space. The front seats may be A-OK for tall drivers, but there’s no way I could sit behind a driver of equal height. Come to think of it, I’m not sure anyone could sit behind me. Putting a child car seat in the back would also be a challenge without moving the passenger seat far forward. I found much more room in a Honda Civic or luxury sedans one size up, such as the Audi A4.
The A3’s trunk is also tiny. I could only fit three roll-aboard suitcases and a medium-sized roller suitcase, which you’d have to check in at the airport. I could fit a whole extra check-in suitcase and a duffel bag in the Civic, though, to be fair, I’ve generally found luxury cars to have smaller trunks than their mainstream brand counterparts.
It’s important to note that these size observations are trade-offs as much as problems. Its size is also a virtue, which I’ll get to below.
Photo: James Riswick
In the A3, the Audi MMI (Multi Media Interface) infotainment system consists of a 10.1-inch touchscreen and a supporting digital instrument panel that measures 10.25 inches standard or 12.3 inches with the Technology package’s Audi Virtual Cockpit Plus upgrade. The latter is colorful and configurable, providing as much or as little information as you desire. It can show traditional gauges, a hodge-podge of vehicle data, or a full-screen navigation map with satellite imagery.
The touchscreen’s dimensions are slightly underwhelming considering a Kia K4’s measures 12.3 inches. Still, it’s hard to find fault in its crisp graphics, logical menu structure, and overall usability. I found it more intuitive than Audi’s newer tech interface in the Q6 E-tron.
The system’s native elements function well. The navigation system is easy to program with the screen or voice controls, and being able to see the map in the instrument panel lets you keep using the touchscreen for its well-designed radio interface (satellite is standard) or standard Apple CarPlay/Android Auto (both wireless) while in need of directions.
My test car also had a 15-speaker Sonos audio system that was so impressive I initially thought it was a stand-alone option worth $1,500 or more. Nope, it comes standard with Premium Plus. Here’s another area where you get more from the A3 than a mainstream compact car. Your music isn’t sounding this good in a Civic or K4, even with their branded audio system upgrades.
Photo: James Riswick
The S3 and RS 3 may have more power, sharper chassis tuning, and the torque-vectoring wizardry of its “torque splitter” rear differential, but that doesn’t mean the A3 isn’t fun to drive. Its small dimensions make it inherently agile and maneuverable. Whether taking a corner extra-quick around town or zipping between tight, technical turns on a winding mountain road, the A3 is reminiscent of a hot hatch (with a trunk).
Indeed, the A3 drives a lot like a Volkswagen GTI with a more comfortable, compliant suspension. Maybe that’s an easy comparison, considering they share an underlying platform and have a similar powertrain, but the impression remains. The A3 has less power than the GTI, but counters that with standard AWD. This has benefits in the mountains, where I could feel power moving rearward to push the car through tight turns.
As for the engine, it’s a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder good for 201 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque (the GTI has 241 hp and 273 pound-feet while the S3 has 328 hp and 295 pound-feet). The A3 may be slower than its platform mates, but it’s still a quick car in feel and on paper (Audi says zero-to-60 mph comes in six seconds). “Punchy” is the word that most comes to mind, and thanks to the car’s AWD system, there’s no worry about its low-end oomph causing torque steer.
The seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission does a good job of snapping off quick shifts, including when passing on the highway or when summoned by steering-wheel-mounted paddles. However, it doesn’t always creep forward as smoothly as a car with a traditional automatic transmission, and the Sport mode didn’t do a good enough job of anticipating downshifts when braking on my mountain road evaluation route. Using those paddles was a must.
Nevertheless, performance is at least one area where you can see the A3’s benefits on paper. You’d have to step up to a Honda Civic Si to get this kind of acceleration, but you’d also have to live with a manual transmission and a less premium environment than what you’d find in even the leather-lined Civic Sport Touring. Besides performance, the A3 is quieter, more comfortable, and generally more refined than non-luxury compacts.
Now, the A3 will certainly not match the hybrid-only Sport Touring in terms of fuel economy, but its efficiency is nevertheless very impressive. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates the A3 at 28 mpg combined. I managed 31 mpg on my 75-mile standardized mixed driving route, averaging 40.2 mpg on the 70-mph Interstate highway portion.
Photo: James Riswick
Audi doesn’t boast a special name for its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) suite, but they’re present in the A3. That said, mainstream branded cars often come standard with adaptive cruise control (ACC); in the A3, it’s exclusive to the Premium Plus package. Standard ADAS on the 2025 Audi A3 include:
The Premium Plus package adds ACC with “lane guidance.” I put “lane guidance” in quotes because Audi describes it as helping keep the car centered in its lane, but I found that it was basically a lane-keeping assistance system that just prevented the car from leaving the lane. It would ping-pong back and forth if I didn’t maintain full steering control. Besides that, the ACC did a perfectly acceptable job of maintaining distance, accelerating, and braking in a natural-enough manner.
All the other systems performed as they should, without excessive warnings or false alarms.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the 2025 Audi A3 the highest-possible “Good” rating in its frontal and side crash tests. At the time of this writing, the Institute had yet to rate the A3’s driver-assistance systems and headlights.
In the JD Power 2024 Initial Quality Study (IQS), the BMW 2 Series ranks highest in the Small Premium Car segment. The BMW 2 Series also ranks highest in the Small Premium Car segment in the JD Power 2024 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study.
Other 2025 A3 competitors include the Cadillac CT4, Lexus IS, and Mercedes-Benz CLA.
Photo: James Riswick
In my opinion, you’re not getting the most car for your money with the Audi A3. On paper, it’s hard to see the value. Yet, I think the price premium is warranted thanks to its strong performance, surprising fuel economy, small-car agility, elevated refinement, and high-quality interior (despite a few low points) with a killer stereo. Oh, and it’s an Audi, which carries some extra value.
I would note, however, that if you’re paying $46,040 for an A3 like this test car, it would be tempting to check the monthly payment for an equally equipped, but far more dynamic, Audi S3 that costs $51,100. If you’re in for a penny, why not be in for a pound?
James Riswick has been testing and reviewing cars since 2007, serving as an editor at Edmunds.com and Autoblog. He has also contributed to Autoguide Magazine, Autotrader, Capital One Auto Navigator, Car and Driver, and Hagerty. He resides in Southern California and owns a 1998 BMW Z3, a 2013 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon, and a 2023 Kia Niro EV.
The Ford Transit is the automaker’s full-size cargo and passenger van offering, designed to serve a wide range of commercial and lifestyle applications. With 37 available configurations, the platform ...See More
Read the Full Article
The Chevrolet Tahoe is a full-size, three-row SUV with a standard V8 engine and available diesel power. Built on the same platform as the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup, the Tahoe benefits from its ...See More
Read the Full Article
It is the end of the line for the Ford Escape. After 25 years as a fixture of Ford’s lineup, 2026 will be the compact SUV’s last model year.
Read the Full Article
The Colorado is Chevrolet’s midsize pickup. It ranks among the segment’s most capable trucks for payload and towing, and can be configured for both work and off-road adventures. For 2026, the ...See More
Read the Full Article